Vienna’s Best Cafes to Work From

Where to find Vienna’s best cafes to work from in the city full of coffee shops!

The coffeehouse culture in Vienna means you are never short of a cafe to perch within, huddled over a melange or espresso, peering out to the world. The problem is, not all of these cafes are created equal. Some cafes are fabulous for feeling like you have stepped back in time – places Cafe Sperl, Cafe Pruckerl, Cafe Dommayer for example.

Others, however, are best when you want a place to idle with a coffee, a cake and get some work done on your laptop or notebook in a cosy atmosphere. Today’s article is all about those places!

Heavenly inspiration

As a writer, I often find myself on Saturday afternoons searching for that perfect cafe. You know the one – it has a comfortable ambience, natural lighting, excellent coffee, soothing music, a cute waiter or two and not too many loud groups or screaming kids. There should also be enough people in it that you don’t feel awkward sipping on your one soy latte for 2 hours.

They are hard to find, but these 5 cafes are my top picks for working from in Vienna. Some are better by day, others by night, so whenever inspiration strikes you have some options!

Out in the back room, there are solo tables right beside power points that are excellent for writing, working or whiling a few hours away with a book. Open from 10 am to 8 pm, Burgasse 24 is great any time of day – on weekends, of course, they do a lovely brunch

The living room of Burggasse 24 in Winter

Best spot: In winter, head to the little tables beside the small fireplace in the back room. In summer, sit on the outside terrace for brunch overlooking St Ulrich’s platz.

I’ve mentioned this place before, but it is still one of my favourite go-to places on a Friday night if I want to get some end of week writing done with a glass of wine in hand (yes guys, my Friday nights are wild, don’t be too jealous now!).

Reliably calm, sometimes playing jazz, other times there’s classical music covers of pop songs or an acoustic guitarist strumming away. I love the simplicity of this place. In summer the street side windows open right out so a warm breeze gets in and you can people-watch the students and creative folk of the 4th district as they ease into their weekends. They also make decent homemade thin crust pizzas.

Best Spot: Beside the window with the power plugs. In summer or winter!

Located directly across from the Vienna University and dishing out some of the best coffee in Vienna, Coffee Pirates is a well-known work and study space. They are experts on coffee brews, even making their own award-winning roast in the back of the cafe!

The cakes are always fantastic, but what I love best here is the high quality of their soy latte’s and the communal tables with many books and magazines to read. The vast oak wood tables, cosy corner couches and near-constant low-level chatter makes it ideal for afternoon work sessions, and the wifi is always excellent here too.

Ok, confession – I only found this cafe because of my love of brunch. Marks is always a suggestion amongst friends for brunch dates. BUT once I had had my fantastic brunch experience, I found myself returning on rainy weekends to sit by the windows and write, nibbling on their cheesecake and having one too many coffees.

What I love about this place is that it is quite spread out, you can sit by the windows, or up on the mini-terrace or in the main area by the bar depending on your mood and how busy it is. The wifi is great and there’s normally power points available to plug in your laptop. I like meeting here if I’m working with friends, as there’s normally plenty of space and the atmosphere is communal.

Best Spot: The back right-hand side corner by the window, you get the power point with a view of the street and architecture!

You know, I almost didn’t share this one – it’s that cute and teeny tiny that if too many people find out about it, we’ll never get a table! But it is an absolute winner for atmosphere, tasty snacks and kooky, artistic decoration on the walls.

Always calm, it’s the kind of place where you can slip from afternoon coffee into evening cocktails seamlessly.

Attempting arty photography while pretending not to take a selfie…

Best Spot: The nook beside the window on the second-hand chairs from the 1970’s. You can see all the fun artwork and still enjoy the natural light, with a good view of the bar to people watch.

There are, of course, a few other spots that are always popular to work from in Vienna; Cafe Phil, Cafe Jelenik and Das Campus come to mind. But these 5 are my tried and true favourites – where do you prefer to work from in Vienna?

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Thankyouthankyouthankyou!
I was desperatly looking for places to hold small meetings and workshops and since I live out in the wine country (north of Vienna) I’m NEVER up to date with all the new or hidden coffee shops in the city.
So that was VERY helpful! Super glad, I stumbled across your blog and will definitely dive deeper into all your posts 🙂

As an Aussie and a writer you might be interested in our Aussie netwoork (social group) here in Vienna. Take a look at our website http://www.ozcon.at As a retired Aussie journalist loving the Austrian life (and writing a monthly newsletter), perhap we should meet over a coffee and swap tales. Brett Bayly

Hi! I'm Carly, an Aussie living in Vienna who loves travel, brunch, local adventures. Here's where I share stories & advice about life in Vienna, loving an Austrian and the places we discover on our part-time travels.
This blog's for other folks who want to make the most of their time in Austria and never waste brunch in a bad cafe. Coming with us?